Guardian of a Guardian
by XIIIth Hazard
Summary: Even the Guardian of the Lyoko needs a Guardian herself. But what happens when her protector is forced to "Harm?" (Takes place during the Episode: Saint Valentine's Day. There will be fluff for Odd and Aelita, but no confirmed relationship.)


Just a little something I threw together for Valentine's Day… ;)

It's just fluff between Odd/Aelita and a little for Jeremy, but no confirmed relationship.

…

 _Guardian of a Guardian_

(Aelita's POV)

It was probably one of the weirdest sensations I have yet to experience since living on earth. One minute, I washing my hands, minding my own business, and the next, I was on Lyoko, lying on the ground somewhere in the Ice Sector, watching from my peripheral vision as the Scyphozoa slinked away in defeat.

"What's going on?" I asked as I sat up and turned around to find Odd standing a few feet away, pointing his firing hand at me with a serious expression on his face that I don't think I had ever seen him use before.

"Why are you aiming at me?" I asked curiously, honestly not even concerned about the fact that he was clearly ready to fire one of his arrows, for the idea that he would ever shoot at me was just laughable.

When he heard my voice, his features shifted from dangerously serious to worried, and then finally his ever-present smile returned as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Um –" He declared mutely, "I think I'll let Jeremy handle that one," He pointed out.

"Guys?" Said person's voice declared from nowhere, in a clearly panicked tone of voice, "What's happening? Is she okay?"

"Yes, Jeremy, she's fine," Ulrich announced, causing me to look in his direction, only to find him stuck behind a wall of ice.

"Why are – what's going on?" I asked again, realizing by now that I had clearly missed something.

"It's okay," Odd said kindly, "There was just a small problem with your necklace, but we took care of it. Everything's fine now," He added to which I couldn't help but smile. Clearly, he was trying to act as if nothing had happened in an attempt to help me find peace with the situation, and honestly, I was glad he did.

Something _bad_ had obviously just gone down, and I wasn't all that sure I wanted to know what kind of trouble I had caused just yet, given that my nerves were basically fried to the point that I was actually shaking.

However, this was where things veered a little off their normal route, for I fully expected Odd to come to my side, help me up and dust me off, all the while acting as if everything was peachy-king – but he didn't, and looking back at him I found out why.

He smiled again nervously as he realized I'd seen the problem as well and proceeded to make fun of himself in an attempt to make me feel better.

"The Ice Sector really doesn't agree with me today," He proclaimed as I got to my feet and rushed to kneel at his side, where his legs had been _frozen_ directly to the ground through several layers of ice.

"How did you –" I started to ask, before realizing something about the digital ice that was familiar. It clearly wasn't as sharp as a Blok's; which was the only creature I could think of that might have done this. The only other one besides – _myself_ that is.

Looking back at the wall that still separated us from Ulrich, I realized that my signature was there as well and I felt my heart drop, "What have I done?" I asked in distress, only to be cut off by Odd gently placing his hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Nothing," He said with a kind smile that made me want to smile back despite what I had just learned, "Whatever happened was not your fault and it never will be. So, instead of blaming yourself, why don't we skip to the _defrosting_ stage and go take care of the Tower? Okay?"

His words were so kind, so supportive and trusting that I couldn't help but agree with them, and so I carefully leaned down to place my hand against the ice that kept him imprisoned before carefully singing my song that would creatively disperse the blockage and a moment later it dissolved into particles of data as it finally freed him.

"Okay that was – _cold_ ," He laughed as he moved a bit to return feeling to his limbs before we shared another smile.

"Yeah, it's all good," Ulrich proclaimed sourly, and we turned to look at him as he folded his arms to raise an eyebrow at us from the other side of the ice wall, "You know I'd just _love_ to be a part of this _reunion_ ," He quoted, making us laugh and he smiled as well.

"I don't think I have enough life points to get rid of that one though," I pointed out truthfully, for I could clearly feel the exhaustion that usually came with being low on digital energy and given that the wall was several feet around and nearly a foot thick there was no way I had the power to make an opening.

I didn't fail to notice the way Odd looked away as I mentioned life points and began to worry again, until he smiled and announced that there was nothing to be concerned about, before turning to kneel down in front of me.

"One horse-drawn carriage, at your disposal, Princess," He offered, pointing a thumb at his back and I laughed, before carefully putting my arms around his neck and allowed him to carry me as he moved to climb the wall.

It obviously took a little longer for him to complete the task then it would have originally, but he didn't complain, not even when his craws slipped a little on the slick surface, or when he reached the top where he then had to carefully lower me down into Ulrich's arms.

"You okay," The virtual samurai asked as he sat me on my feet again and I nodded.

"The Tower is 40 degrees north and 15 degrees west," Jeremy stated in a quiet tone of voice as Odd dropped back down to land beside us and a moment later, the Overboard and Overbike appeared a few feet away, "It looks like Xana's _retreated_ ; you shouldn't have any problem reaching it," He added as Ulrich got on his vehicle and offered me the seat behind him.

…

"Ulrich?" I asked as I held onto him, noticing how he seemed to be going out of his way to take the ride nice and slow.

"Yeah?" He asked kindly.

"What happened?" I added, "Why has Xana retreated? Why are we even here?"

"Turns out, Xana wants you alive as much as we do," He proclaimed gently, leaving me to think that over for a moment, as I realized that he likely had a point.

Xana wanted my memory, and, given how low I was on life points at the moment, I doubted that he would do anything that would jeopardize my health. Which explained the lack of monsters as well as the fact that there didn't appear to be any attack back on earth.

However, as I looked between my guardians, I still couldn't help shaking the feeling that something was wrong. Ulrich was quiet to the point of near _ghost-like_ qualities, only talking when he was spoken to and never saying more than a few lines.

And then there was Odd, who was riding just behind us on his board, as if preparing himself to catch me should I fall off the bike. Though they were normally very protective of me, they were taking it to paranoid levels this time around. As if something had made them realize just how much they could have lost.

"Is Odd okay?" I asked next, leaning in close to Ulrich's ear, so the spoken person wouldn't hear us.

"I'm – I'm sure he's fine," He answered quietly, which didn't proclaim _confidence_ in any sense of the word.

"What happened?" I quickly demanded again.

"He might be a little down for a while, but it's nothing to be concerned about," He insisted, which only made me even more concerned.

However, I didn't have the chance to voice this as we had finally arrived at the Tower, causing him to slowly bring the bike to a stop and let me get off, leaving them to wait outside as I deactivated the Tower.

…

The rest of that day went very well, Jeremy took me into town, offering to get me anything I wanted to atone for the fact that they'd had to crush my Xanafied necklace, but in the end I had just asked for ice cream, which he'd been all too happy to oblige.

Ulrich and Yumi seemed to have made up as well, though I couldn't really remember what it was they had been fighting about to being with, and had eventually gone for a night on the town.

It was as I returned from my time with Jeremy that my thoughts went to Odd again and I realized I hadn't seen much off him since we'd gotten back from the factory that morning. So, I decided to head upstairs in an attempt to find him.

Knowing that I wasn't allowed in the boy's dormitories wasn't much of a deter, considering I'd been sneaking up there almost every day since first coming to live on earth, and finding Odd and Ulrich's room was as simple as letting my feet guide me to the door.

I heard the soft sound of music coming through the wall as I touched the knob and slowly opened it to find the person of my search lying on his bed with his eyes closed. I smiled as I shut the door again and reached out to pet Kiwi who was as happy as ever to see me, before realizing that Odd wasn't just resting, he was actually asleep.

Thinking it would be better to come back another time, I was about to leave when I noticed the notebook laying open on his chest and curiously picked it up to look at the beautifully rendered image of a window, with three small birds chirping to each other.

After a moment, I realized that he'd been drawing the image in front of him, however, the window in their room no longer featured the birds or the bright light of the sun.

Curious, I started to flip through the other pages, discovering many of them were of Kiwi, but the second most popular image was, without a doubt, their gang. Some were of just one person and others featured them all, but there was little doubt that they'd taken a lot of time to draw, as well as a lot of passion.

"What's up?" Odd's voice declared at the moment, making me jump as I was caught off guard and looked around to find he had sat up without me noticing, to smile in my direction.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," I quailed with embarrassment.

"It's alright," He proclaimed as he waved the apology away like a bug before standing up, "I would have slept through dinner if you hadn't."

"God forbid," I joked with a laugh and he returned it.

"Don't joke about a man and his food, Princess," He muttered with fake discipline as he picked up the pencils and erasers on his bed and turned off the radio in order to put them all away, leaving me to quickly offer him his notebook back with a sheepish little grin.

"I just realized that I've never actually seen any of your drawings," I admitted and he smiled.

"Doodles," He corrected with a smile, indicating his notebook, before placing it on his desk and moved to exit the room.

"Is there a difference?"

"Yup," He proclaimed as if he'd just solved world hunger and I laughed before following him out of the room as he held the door open for me, "I doodle when I need to revamp."

"Revamp?" I repeated as we walked down the hall, "What does that mean?" I added causing him to turn to me with a genuine smile.

"It happens when I'm too serious for too long. I need to recollect all of my good mojo."

"I – I didn't know that was a thing. Do _all_ humans do that?" He promptly laughed at this, which made me smile despite the gesture, for his laugh had a way of never making me feel out-casted, only accepted.

"If they don't they _should_ ," He admitted, "My Grandpa always said 'Odd, you don't want to be that grumpy old person who _frowns_ at your own funeral, so _smile_ _damnit_! Life is _expressive'_."

I couldn't help but laugh again as he said this and honestly couldn't stop myself again until my ribs were hurting and I could barely breathe.

"You don't usually talk about your family," I pointed out truthfully as we started to descend the stairs, which led to the nearest main door.

"That's because they're all a little _crazy_ ," Odd admitted as he twirled his finger around his ear comically.

"Oh – I would have never guessed," I countered expertly, causing him to turn to me with a look that was partly between humor and shock.

"You are becoming a witty and vindictive person, Aelita Stones," He proclaimed sourly, before displacing the frown with a grin and laid his arm over my shoulder, "I have taught you well," He added and we laughed again as he made our way outside, before heading for the cafeteria.

"Are you okay?" I finally asked, before we reached the building and he stopped in order to look at me.

"Of course, why?"

"It's just – you seemed really upset this morning," I proclaimed, causing him to look at something else for a moment, "You were trying not to show it, but – I could _tell_ ," I informed him and he sighed before looking back at me.

"I _shot_ at you," He stated simply, "I know it was for a good cause, but – that's not something I'm gonna get over real fast."

"You _saved_ me," I insisted sternly, but gently, causing him to smile slightly as he looked at the ground.

"I know," He admitted, "But I _promised_ to protect you, and I didn't do that today."

"But you did," I informed him as I reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder, "You just did it in a _different way_ ," I added truthfully, causing him to look at me again before sighing loudly.

"Why is it that I can never argue with you?" He demanded mutely and I smiled.

"Because, you know you'll always _loose_ ," I proclaimed without pause, causing him to laugh.

"Oh man – I have created a _monster_ ," He muttered, before turning to enter the cafeteria, however he stopped just before touching the door and looked back at me as he reached into his pocket, "I almost forgot, I was gonna give it to you earlier, but Jeremy was kind of – well never mind," He stated, before gently placing something in my hand.

Looking down I found the object in question to be a simple chain with a dog-tag on the end, which had been carved and painted with the image of a beautiful pink wing.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Princess," He added as I ran my finger over the engraved image, before looking up at him with a smile.

"I didn't get you anything," I insisted, but he quickly waved the offer away as he opened the door for me and answered.

"Not true," He stated simply, "You gave me the best gift of all."

* * *

I'm very aware that the Code Lyoko fan base is torn between the relationships of JeremyXAelita and OddXAelita, but as I watch the show, I feel that, in a way, _both_ have generally been supported, yet in my eyes nether have really been confirmed.

I personally hate the way Jeremy treats her sometimes, I've known people like that myself and therefore I am incredibly put me off by him. However while I do like Odd and Aelita far more than Jeremy, I also like to stay true to the original story and characters.

So, like the show, I have supported both, but confirmed neither, allowing you read it however you want.

;)

Reviews Please


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